Ultratax (hosted)

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#1
Posts:
400
Joined:
19-Nov-2014 5:47pm
Location:
USA
We currently use Ultratax, File Cabinet CS, Accounting CS, and Practice CS. Everything is running on our local server.

We are thinking about switching to have Thompson Reuters host our software.

Is anyone currently using the hosted platform or used it in the past? Any issues we should be aware of?
 

#2
Posts:
99
Joined:
14-May-2019 3:57pm
Location:
Idaho
We switched the the TR Virtual Office last August. We don't use Accounting CS so I can't speak to that but the other programs work well 98% of the time. There was a major incident back around Dec/Jan where the connectivity was so slow the programs were basically useless for a day or two.

Past incidents can be found here to get an idea of how frequent they are. They usually get fixed fairly quickly, but can be a pain no matter the length.
https://taxprofessionals-status.hostedt ... ters.com/#

One other item to note is that Virtual Office is not compatible with Adobe Acrobat (if you use it). PDFs within Vitural Office applications only open with Adobe Reader. For example PDF's saved in FileCabinet would no longer be editable by Adobe Acrobat.

We've also got good internet here. That is a must and depending on where you are in the country can be hit and miss.
 

#3
smtcpa  
Posts:
515
Joined:
28-Jul-2014 5:16am
Location:
Richmond, VA
I would not use the TR servers on their VO platform. I have used UT products for 15 years and, for me, VO never made financial or operational sense. It is very expensive and you cannot install anything else on their servers, or run Macros on Excel worksheets (important for things like Gruntworx). So if you want to throw QB or a different software up there, it's locked down. We used Infinitely Virtual for 3 years and they were fine. Verito has come very highly recommended and their prices are great. When I get back to hosted environment, I will use Verito.
 

#4
Posts:
2467
Joined:
24-Apr-2014 7:54am
Location:
Wisconsin
I per diem for a firm that uses VO. They are looking for alternatives in hosting due to the issues they've had this tax season. The performance had gotten so bad by mid-March that I started working only during the 2nd shift. I assume at some point the entire TR suite will migrate to Onvio much like how CCH is moving Prosystems to the cloud.

The Excel thing is really frustrating. It's not just macros you can't use, you can't do basic shortcuts such as CTRL+F either.
 

#5
Andrew  
Posts:
806
Joined:
21-Nov-2018 5:00pm
Location:
CA
I have steered away from using cloud services because I do suspect that the firms that offer cloud services for taxes are major targets for hackers. All companies that have been hacked in the past (Turbotax, Wells Fargo. Blue Shield, Yahoo, Experian, the IRS, to name a few), didn't notify their own customers in a timely matter. The liability of going to the cloud rests with the accounting firm. Not the provider of these cloud services like TR, for example. So please make sure you have adequate liability insurance for when, not if, your cloud service gets hacked and your clients information hits the black market and your clients ask you for an explanation. You may want to let your client know, in advance, that you share their financial information with cloud based services which may be more prone to hackers.
 

#6
Posts:
400
Joined:
19-Nov-2014 5:47pm
Location:
USA
Agree, TR is a much larger target than our accounting firm. However, our firm has been targeted multiple times with malicious malware thru email. TR's IT security is much better than we could ever put into place at our firm. The security of the data is actually one of the main reasons we are looking at switching to the cloud.

I am much less concerned about security than the performance of the TR software on the cloud. The last thing I want to do is switch and have more issues than we had before. We have had some major issues with the performance of the software on our server.
 

#7
cp_acwt  
Posts:
98
Joined:
22-May-2014 1:59pm
Location:
MichigaN
I use TR's SaaS product which is VO but you rent the software. The enticement to buy SaaS instead of VO is that they give you access to their suite of software. The drawbacks are, the more users you have the more expensive it gets and you don't get a copy of the software like you do with VO. Not having a copy of the software that you would use if you decided to move back to your own server makes leaving SaaS difficult.
 

#8
Posts:
2
Joined:
6-Jul-2020 12:13pm
Location:
CO
At my last firm, we used a tech company called TechPoint who created a "private cloud" for our UltraTax. Basically it had all the benefits of a cloud but it could be hosted on our local network so there aren't as many "hacking" risks. Our firm tested out TR Host but it had a lot of issues and limitations, it was very expensive, and it seemed that they didn't care about smaller businesses. We had a requirement that we had to be able to work when the internet was down and with the private cloud solution we got from TechPoint, we were able to since it was still on our network. Also with the private cloud we didn't have to deal with all of the clunky VPN issues we had when we would try to work from home previously. Honestly, getting a private cloud built out by TechPoint was the best decision that our firm ever made. I would highly recommend it. They now also come so recommended that Thomson Reuters even refers people to them directly sometimes. Here's their website: https://www.techpointtechnologycloud.com/
 

#9
Andrew  
Posts:
806
Joined:
21-Nov-2018 5:00pm
Location:
CA
Employee education cost to not click on links in fishing emails: about 1% of the cost of cloud services. Email can be set up so that it warns about unknown senders. Hopefully, this low cost solution can work for you, too.
We all would think two or three times about given someone the keys to our office. Yet, with giving a cloud hosting company access to all your data, that is in fact what actually happens. And the unfortunate issue is that if the cloud hosting company changes the lock, or the lock stops working (hopefully temporarily), you don't have access to your own office.
 


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